“There was a girl that I thought was better than me, and I was jealous of her.”
“I would look for her snaps everyday then I’d feel bad about myself.
Like I was intentionally hurting myself feeding into my insecurities.”
“But, I did it anyway already knowing how the results would turn out.”
— Ari, of MadlyRad from NYC
💕
My brilliant solution; Yep, I deleted my IG and Snapchat apps from my iPhone. It was scary at first, I actually think I caught my breath for just a second or two.
BUT, it’s been a week now and I’m still alive. I know right.
[News Flash] . . . Most parents are freaking out. Phycologists are becoming deeply concerned with their teen patients. CNN reports teen smart phone users are showing signs of increased depression.
And us, well we’re spending our required 3 to 5 hours a day on our phones just trying to keep up.
BUT, if you’re one of the ‘in crowd’ you’re busy telling everyone you pass in the hall between classes about your snap streak’s being in the hundreds and your ‘likes’ on your latest IG selfie post have gone monster (secretly photoshopping the hell out of it, of course) . . .
“Guess what?”
You are not a depressed teen. at least not on the outside of you.
The comparison game is cool with you. And your our image; you’re thinking cover of Teen Vogue. Maybe you got a ‘C’ on your algebra test, but you’re miss popularity.
And me, right now I’m thinking I need to go outside and through up a little bit.
What! Now you’re even talking about trying out for the cheer squad next year. Saying you are a little worried about doing a back flip or something.
Ok that’s it, I defiantly need to through up.
BUT, “Guess what?”
You are not a depressed teen. at least not on the outside of you.
💕
BUT, for the rest of us vise-versa types, “Guess what?”
Life sucks!
Life carefully divides us up into groups in school. The popular kids with ‘lots-of-likes’ are chosen by the popular’s heads of state. And, ‘No’, the academic clubs don’t really count, do they.
And the rest of us like you and me? Well we fit in someplace else, over there somewhere sort of to the side of it all. You know, where we feel safe, accepted by the rest of the ‘low-like’ kids.
Uniqueness and global acceptance rarely collide in the same sentence for me.
We’re on the outside always looking in at the populars as they marvel over their latest, almost comic book superhero, ‘lots-of-likes’ count.
BTW, please don’t believe the hype they spew about how they don’t care about the counts. Everyone says that. But in the dark; they are checking the counts on their latest story every hour.
💕
And the rest of us hold tightly to our telling ourselves it’s just all too stupid.
Besides, I’m way smart for all this!
Besides I got an ‘A’ in AP Calculus.
Besides, I’m going to college and you, miss popular avatar, will be waiting tables at Denny’s after graduation.
💕
BUT, do we believe this story. Deep down do we really think that
Oh, hold on a second, I just got a notification. I think that girl just put up a new snap.
Yep, yep, yep!
I’m getting depressed.
This sucks!
helping teens everywhere with key social issues
MadlyRad
stopping stupid
